As the Major League Baseball draft got to the point where teams just fill out minor league rosters and there are typically few big splashes, the Astros went to the high diving board and dropped a cannonball.

It might turn into nothing, but the Astros made a huge reach, using the No. 573 overall pick on Jacoby Jones, a talent much more representative of the first round or two but likely a signing nightmare.

Jones, with no known relation to the wide receiver for the Texans of the same name, is strongly committed to LSU and reportedly has been advised by agent Scott Boras. He is likely to want money nowhere near the order of what a typical 19th-round pick receives, which is what caused the Richton, Miss., high schooler to drop so far.

“He was just staring at us long enough, and if someone wanted to go through the summer with him, I wanted it to be us,” Astros assistant general manager and scouting director Bobby Heck said. “If he changed his demands or his commitment to LSU, I thought it would be wise for us to have a chance to talk to him about it.”

A call to the Boras Corp. on Tuesday afternoon went unreturned.

The rest of the second day of the draft, which spanned rounds 2-30, was much less eventful but, the Astros believe, highly productive.

In total, after 32 picks, the Astros have 11 college position players, nine college pitchers, seven high school position players and five high school pitchers.

The Astros opened day two of the draft by going the high school route for the third time in their first four picks, taking California prepster Vincent Velasquez with their second-round pick. Velasquez, out of Garey High School in Pomona, Calif., was selected as a pitcher. He had been a position player much of his baseball life but was throwing in the low to mid-90s on the showcase circuit and mixes in a good changeup.

“About a middle or two-thirds part of the year, he decided to dedicate himself to pitching,” Heck said, and the Astros saw his last several starts.

Like their two position players selected in Monday’s first round, DeShields and Kvasnicka, Wates doesn’t have a truly cemented position. He has played first base and the outfield and could have the speed to play center, though the Astros picked him as a right fielder, highly subject to change.

“We believe he’s going to run out in the outfield and run around on some grass and let the developmental side see where he settles in,” Heck said.

Wates is not generally considered a future power hitter, but the Astros hope his hitting for average and above-average speed will compensate for that.

He hit .382 for the Hokies this year with a .491 on-base percentage and a .604 slugging percentage with 18 steals in 21 attempts.

The Astros went back to college with their fourth-round selection, taking righthander Robert Doran out of Texas Tech at No. 123 overall. Doran was chosen last year in the 36th round by the Pirates but did not sign.

The 6-6, 225-pounder made 13 starts and three relief appearances for the Red Raiders this year, compiling a 4.35 ERA with 81 strikeouts to 23 walks in 89 innings. Heck sees him as a starter in the middle or back of the rotation.

The Astros will make 20 more picks today. In general, they like where they stand after two days.

“There are a lot of really talented athletes that we’ve been able to bring in here the last couple of years, and I think this draft indicates that we’ve done the same thing again,” Astros general manager Ed Wade said.